On this day in 1918, in a conference of Allied military leaders at Abbeville, France, the U.S., Britain and France argue over the entrance of American troops into World War I.

On March 23, two days after the launch of a major German offensive in northern France, British Prime Minister David Lloyd George telegraphed the British ambassador in Washington, Lord Reading, urging him to explain to U.S. President Woodrow Wilson that without help from the U.S., “we cannot keep our divisions supplied…for more than a short time at the present rate of loss….This situation is undoubtedly critical and if America delays now she may be too late.” In response, Wilson agreed to send a direct order to the commander in chief of the American Expeditionary Force, General John J. Pershing, telling him that American troops already in France should join British and French divisions immediately, without waiting for enough soldiers to arrive to form brigades of their own. Pershing agreed to this on April 2, providing a boost in morale for the exhausted Allies.

The continued German offensive continued to take its toll throughout the month of April, however, as the majority of American troops in Europe—now arriving at a rate of 120,000 month—still did not see battle. In a meeting of the Supreme War Council of Allied leaders at Abbeville, near the coast of the English Channel, which began on May 1, 1918, Clemenceau, Lloyd George and General Ferdinand Foch, the recently named generalissimo of all Allied forces on the Western Front, worked to persuade Pershing to send all the existing American troops into the fray at once. Pershing resisted, reminding the group that the U.S. had entered the war “independently” of the other Allies—indeed, the U.S. would insist during and after the war on being known as an “associate” rather than a full-fledged ally—and stating “I do not suppose that the American army is to be entirely at the disposal of the French and British commands.”

On May 2, the second day of the meeting, the debate continued, with Pershing holding his ground in the face of heated appeals by the other leaders. He proposed a compromise, which in the end Lloyd George and Clemenceau had no choice but to accept: the U.S. would send the 130,000 troops arriving in May, as well as another 150,000 in June, to join the Allied line directly. He would make no provision for July. This agreement meant that of the 650,000 American troops in Europe by the end of May 1918, roughly one-third would see action that summer; the other two-thirds would not join the line until they were organized, trained and ready to fight as a purely American army, which Pershing estimated would not happen until the late spring of 1919. By the time the war ended, though, on November 11, 1918, more than 2 million American soldiers had served on the battlefields of Western Europe, and some 50,000 of them had lost their lives.

Despite its early date, the battle of Gorlice-Tarnow, 2-10 May 1915, was in many ways the decisive battle on the Eastern Front during the First World War. At the outbreak of the war, the most Eastern Front had been dominated by the Polish Salient. Russian occupied Poland jutted west towards Germany. To both sides it represented an opportunity and a danger. It gave the Russians the chance to attack west into industrial Silesia or towards Berlin, north into East Prussia or south towards the Carpathians and the heart of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. However the salient was also vulnerable to German and Austro-Hungarian attack, with a risk that every Russian soldier in Poland could be trapped in the west.

The war began with Russian invasions of East Prussia, and of Galicia (the Austro-Hungarian province to the south of Poland and north of the Carpathian Mountains). The Germans had defeated the invasion of East Prussia, but the Austrians had been forced back to the Carpathians after the disastrous battles of Lemberg. A German attack on Warsaw in the autumn of 1914 had briefly allowed the Austrians to restore the situation, but by the spring of 1915 they were once again fighting in the Carpathians and faced a real danger that the Russians might break through into Hungary.

The Chief of the General Staff, General Conrad von Hötznedorf, devised the plan that would retrieve the situation, but it would require German troops. He called for four German divisions to be moved to the quiet western end of the Carpathian Front, where the front line turned north. This German force would break through the Russian lines and advance east behind the Russian armies in the Carpathians, forcing them to retreat or risk surrender.

The Austrian plan was accepted by the German High Command. General Falkenhayn decided to move an entire German Army (four corps, or eight divisions), to the sector of the front line that ran north from Gorlice, at the edge of the Carpathians, to Tarnow.

This was the Eleventh Army, under General von Mackensen. He was given the Guards, X, XLI and a Composite Corps, all moved in secrecy from the Western Front. The gas attack that led to the second battle of Ypres was one of a series of diversions launched to hide this movement. Mackensen was also given command of the Austrian troops allocated to the offensive, the VI corps and a Hungarian cavalry division. This army took up position behind the line of the Austrian Fourth Army, which then moved north to let the Germans take over the line. On 28 April the Germans were in place.

The Russians were massively outnumbered between Tarnow and Gorlice. Von Mackensen had 170,000 men, with 702 field guns and nearly 300 heavy guns. In the area to be attacked, the Russians had two divisions from General Radko-Dmitriev’s Third Army.

The German plan was for a simple frontal assault, supported by a heavy artillery bombardment. It was thus very different from the more ambitious plans for envelopments and double envelopments that had previously dominated German thinking. It was a type of attack that would have failed on the western front, but the Russian lines between Gorlice and Tarnow were much weaker than the French or British lines in the west.

At 6 am on 2 May a four hour bombardment began. This was the heaviest yet seen on the Eastern Front, and destroyed the Russian defences. At 10 a.m. the first wave of 30,000 German and Austrian infantry attacked, and by the end of the day had captured the Russian first and second lines.

On 4 May a Russian counterattack, by III Caucasian Corps, failed, and the Germans broke out into open country. They made rapid progress to the east, threatening the entire Russian Carpathian Front. By the end of the first week of the offensive, the Germans had captured 140,000 prisoners and 100 guns, and the Russian Third Army had been destroyed. Most of its divisions were down to 1,000 men, less than 10% of their full strength. On 10 May the Austrians advancing on the German right forced their way across the river San at Sanok, and began to advance towards the fortress of Przemysl.

The German and Austrians continued to advance throughout the summer. The three Russian armies on the Carpathians were forced to retreat towards Lemberg, which itself fell on 22 June. Przemysl had been evacuated on 1 June, after an attempt to defend the San at Jaroslaw failed. The Germans then turned north, and began an advance to the east of Warsaw, while a second German attack (Twelfth Army), from the north, forced the Russians to abandon Warsaw on 5 August. On 25 August Brest-Litovsk fell to the Germans.

By the middle of September the Russians had been forced back to a line that ran from Lithuania south to the Pripet Marshes and the Rumanian border. Russian Poland had been lost, and any direct threat to German or to the Austro-Hungarian Empire was gone. The Russian commander in chief in the west, the Grand Duke Nicholas, had conducted a skilful retreat and had preserved a large part of the Russian army, but on 21 August Tsar Nicholas II transferred the Grand Duke to the Caucasus Front and took direct command of the armies. This established a link between the Tsar and the progress of the war that would play a significant role in reducing his popularity over the next two years.

The only negative element of the campaign from the German point of view was the increasing weakness of their Austro-Hungarian allies. They had lost over one million men since the start of 1915, and were becoming increasingly dependent on German aid to maintain their war effort. The process that saw the Austro-Hungarian Empire go from being Germany’s almost equal ally to being their costly dependent was well under way.

2 May - Our supplies are getting cut off – Turks have complete command of the roads through which we have to bring them – tonight we are to take the Ridge. I wonder how I shall get on in a charge, for I have not the least idea how to use a bayonet; even if I had, I should not be able to do so, the thing is too revolting – I can only hope that I get shot – why did they not let me do the RAMC work? I have told the authorities that be often enough that I cannot kill. One poor chap in a dug-out close to us was killed while preparing his meal; he has been lying there for two days – his mess tin full of tea, the charred remains of the fire he was cooking by, a few biscuits scattered about, his pipe by his side – we cannot bury him on account of the snipers; it seems no place is safe from them – efforts are being made to clear them out but it is a difficult job as we cannot spare the men to do it. We are very hard pressed – we were to have had four days’ rest from the firing line but now the situation is so critical that at all costs the enemy must be shifted from the Ridge. Colonel Pope has aged much during these first terrible days.

8.30 pm. In half an hour we have to move off for the charge. Close to where we have fallen in, enemy snipers are putting in pretty hot work. I had to go up the road with a message; on the way back apparently I took to the wrong side – Captain Margolin called out to me:

‘Keep to the right; don’t you know which is the right side? Run for it, you _ _ _ _ fool!’

Then all the men called for me to run for it – ‘the snipers will get you’ – however, I don’t think I cared much whether they did or not – if I am to get hit nothing can stop it; I am tired of never being able to move about with freedom, I’d much rather take my chance – running does not appeal to me; too much like hard work.

I have just seen a plucky incident. Some ammunition mules came down this exposed bend; the snipers immediately got on to them, one poor brute was severely wounded; the sight of the blood gushing from the tortured brute quite unnerved me – the rest of the train commenced to break away – despite the great danger, two men rushed forward and caught hold of the startled animals, thus preventing a stampede which, in the confined space of a narrow road – if such it could be called – might have caused an impasse, and this, under the existing conditions, would have been highly dangerous.

The shrapnel is now ever in the sky, it is as much a part of the landscape as the clouds. At 6p.m. we march off. Half way up to the Hill which we are to take we had a rest for tea, biscuits, bully beef, cheese and jam – I went down to a water hole in a gully; it was very peaceful down there, the sun slanting through the thick foliage; it was difficult to realize that all around us was such Hell. Lieutenant Geddes was also there – a man whom I remember, at our concerts, used to sing very charmingly – poor chap, this was his last night in this world. Just as the sun was setting, throwing its rich colour o’er all the landscape, we formed up for the final march off for the attack – it was difficult going, crawling through the gully which skirted the foot of the hill we were to attack. We were to attack at 7 sharp, prior to which our artillery was to support us – our Battalion, No 6 Platoon supported by the 15th Battalion on the right, 13th on the left. Lieutenant Geddes looked at his watch:

‘It is 7 o’clock, Lads,’ he said, ‘Come on, lads, at ’em.’

Up we rushed – God, it was frightful – the screams of the wounded, bursting of the shells, and the ear-splitting crackling of the rifles. In a very few minutes the gully at the foot of the hill was filled with dead and wounded – these poor lumps of clay had once been my comrades, men I had worked and smoked and laughed and joked with – oh God, the pity of it. It rained men in this gully; all round could be seen the sparks where the bullets were striking. Amidst this Hell of writhing, mangled men and hail of bullets, a General was walking about:

‘Your puttee’s undone, young man,’ he said.

‘Yes Sir, that’s all right,’ I replied, ‘I’ll soon fix that up, but for God’s sake, take cover; you’ll be killed.’

Every second I expected to see him hit, but not until he had done up my puttee for me would he move – then, with an amused chuckle, he passed his hand over the top of his cap, at the same time remarking, ‘That was a pretty near thing’. A bullet had singed the top of his cap. On my way up the hill I much wondered what I would do when I got to the top – the Corporal of our signallers ordered all the signalers to the rear; this struck me as being curious, I asked him whose orders – he said, ‘Lieutenant Southern’ – so I went down the gully to see what I could do for some of the wounded. It was impossible to walk between them, they were in such heaps. One sergeant, Caldewell, came tearing along, badly wounded but full of spirits – ‘My!’ he said, ‘but they’re willing up there’. Another poor fellow, his right hand shot away, called out, ‘God, but I’ve done my duty. Is that you, Silas old chap; I’ve done my duty, haven’t I?’ I was wondering what our officers were doing for signallers, so determined the reach for them, orders or otherwise – my nerves were quite gone, but still I determined to make the effort.

On my way up the hill, a large number of men were lying flat on its face – it was a screen of lead right across. Walker, another signaler, made every effort to reach the top – meanwhile the men were yelling to us to lie flat – we continued our way a little further until we saw the impossibility of our task, so we tried to dig ourselves in, but there was little room for anyone. Our artillery was firing into us as well – then came a cry from the top, ‘We must have ammunition’ – to run down the slope was instant death – there was no officer to give the order and, aware of the urgency of the case, I got up and tore down the hill, for being a signaller I felt it was my duty to take the risk, so I went down to Headquarters with the message. On my way down, in the gully, I came across the reinforcements coming up – one of the chaps said to me ‘Who are you? Where do you come from? What is your name?’, meanwhile drawing his bayonet – I had to answer pretty quickly, otherwise I could have had more steel than I wanted. I then came across Lieutenant Braishaw lying wounded:

‘Who are you?’ I said.

‘Don’t you know me, Silas?’ he replied.

‘What is the password?’ was my next remark.

‘Gabba Gabba – don’t you remember, I came over in the same ship with you from Melbourne?’

Then I remembered him – perhaps it was foolish of me, but the Turks had played so many clever tricks that it was best to play for safety. I covered him up with some bushes. ‘Can’t you help me to the rear now?’ he said, a natural enough question, as we might not be able to hold the ridge and the wounded would fall into the hands of the Turks:

‘No sir,’ I replied, ‘I will tell the stretcher bearers to look out for you but I must take the message about the ammunition; it is very urgent.’

I continued on my way – the gullies were choked with wounded; all along the route I kept coming across poor shattered things crawling along in their agony, but I could not stop to help them. Some distance from Headquarters I came across a pile of ammunition boxes – these should have been brought up by reinforcements, but by some error this was not done – I went to Headquarters with my message, where I arrived in a state of collapse – the horrors of this night have been too much for me, I cannot get used to the frightful sights with which I am always surrounded.

It’s thought that doctor John McCrae (30th November 1872 — 28th January 1918) began the draft for his famous poem ‘In Flanders Fields’ on the evening of the 2nd May, 1915 in the second week of fighting during the Second Battle of Ypres.

It is believed that the death of his friend, Alexis Helmer, was the inspiration for McCrae's poem ‘In Flanders Fields’. The exact details of when the first draft was written may never be known because there are various accounts by those who were with McCrae at that time.

■One account says that he was seen writing the poem sitting on the rearstep of an ambulance the next day while looking at Helmer's grave and the vivid red poppies that were springing up amongst the graves in the burial ground.

■Another account says that McCrae was so upset after Helmer's burial that he wrote the poem in twenty minutes in an attempt to compose himself.

■A third account by his commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Morrison, states that John told him he drafted the poem partly to pass the time between the arrival of two groups of wounded at the first aid post and partly to experiment with different variations of the poem's metre.
John McCrae, was serving as a Major and a military doctor and was second in command of the 1st Brigade Canadian Field Artillery. The field guns of his brigade’s batteries were in position on the west bank of the Ypres-Yser canal, about two kilometres to the north of Ypres. The brigade had arrived there in the early hours of 23 April.

The Death of Lieutenant Alexis Helmer

Lieutenant Alexis Helmer was an officer in the 2nd Battery, 1st Brigade Canadian Field Artillery and had become good friends with John McCrae. On the morning of Sunday 2nd May Alexis left his dugout and was killed instantly by a direct hit from an 8 inch German shell. What body parts could be found were later gathered into sandbags and laid in an army blanket for burial that evening.

Alexis was 22 years old and a popular young officer. Before the outbreak of war he had graduated from McGill University with a degree in Civil Engineering. He was the son of Elizabeth I. Helmer of 122, Gilmour St., Ottawa, and the late Brigadier General R. A. Helmer.

Near to the 1st Canadian Brigade's position on the canal bank there was a small burial ground which had originally been established during the First Battle of Ypres in the autumn of the previous year, 1914. The Second Battle of Ypres began on 22 April 1915 and by early May the burial ground also contained graves of French and Canadian casualties. It became known as Essex Farm British Military Cemetery.

Lieutenant Helmer was buried on the 2nd May. In the absence of the chaplain, Major John McCrae conducted a simple service at the graveside, reciting from memory some passages from the Church of England's 'Order of Burial of the Dead'. A wooden cross marked the burial place. The grave has since been lost. Lieutenant Alexis Helmer is now commemorated on Panel 10 of the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing in Ypres; he is one of the 54,896 soldiers who have no known grave in the battlefields of the Ypres Salient.

Lieutenant Colonel Morrison wrote about the small burial ground where Alexis Helmer was originally buried:

“A couple of hundred yards away, there was the headquarters of an infantry regiment and on numerous occasions during the sixteen day battle, we saw how they crept out to bury their dead during lulls in the fighting. So the rows of crosses increased day after day, until in no time at all it had become quite a sizeable cemetery. Just as John described it, it was not uncommon early in the morning to hear the larks singing in the brief silences between the bursts of the shells and the returning salvos of our own nearby guns.”

During 1915 John McCrae sent the poem to 'The Spectator' magazine. It was not published and was returned to him. It was, however, published in 'Punch' magazine on 8th December 1915.

BRAUND, GEORGE FREDERICK (1866-1915), merchant, politician and soldier, was born on 13 July 1866 at Bideford, Devonshire, England, eldest son of Frederick Braund, draper, and his wife Ellen, née Doidge. He was educated at Bideford Grammar School and, when 15, migrated to New South Wales with his parents and their nine other children. (...)

In May 1893 Braund had been commissioned second lieutenant in the Armidale company, 4th Australian Infantry Regiment. He was promoted lieutenant in 1898, captain in 1899 and major in 1912, and was company commander in 1899-1912. He took a continuing interest in local affairs and by World War I was 'Armidale's most prominent citizen'. A magistrate, he was also for many years president of the Armidale Chamber of Commerce, a member of the public school board, and a director of the New England Building Society and of various local business concerns. In 1910 the Liberal Party invited him to contest the Federal seat of New England; he declined because of family commitments but in 1913 became Liberal member for Armidale in the Legislative Assembly.

That year Braund was promoted lieutenant-colonel, and from July 1914 commanded the 13th Infantry Regiment. On the formation of the Australian Imperial Force he was appointed by Colonel H. N. MacLaurin to raise and train the 2nd Battalion and on 17 August became its commanding officer. The unit embarked for Egypt two months later. Braund trained his officers and men with extreme thoroughness and, largely by his own example, exacted a high standard of discipline. He was a convinced theosophist; self-discipline was part of his creed; he was a teetotaller, a non-smoker and a vegetarian and was almost obsessive about physical fitness. He was short in stature, alert, active and of a lively disposition. He probably commanded respect, rather than affection, from his troops. Once on Gallipoli, however, all appreciated his insistence on fitness, discipline and mental alertness.

On the morning of 25 April 1915 the 2nd Battalion landed at Gallipoli and two of its companies were at once assigned to the 3rd Brigade, already engaged in fierce fighting at The Nek. 'B' and 'C' Companies were held in reserve until 1.30 p.m. when, under a harassing fire, Braund led them up steep goat-tracks to the junction of Walker's Ridge and Russell's Top. There, in a vital but isolated position, they dug in and held on for two days against a sustained Turkish attack. Casualties were high and only Braund's tenacious leadership held his seriously weakened force together. On 27 April, when reinforcements from Lieutenant-Colonel W. G. Malone's Wellington Battalion reached him, he led the combined force in a steady bayonet charge through the scrub to the crest of Russell's Top. Forced to withdraw before a strong enemy counter-attack, his men resumed their original positions and retained them until the morning of the 28th; by then Braund's exhausted battalion had withstood the main Turkish advance for three days and nights without rest. They withdrew to the beach, leaving Malone's men in control of the sector.

Malone kept a diary in which he was critical of Braund's command. His comments seem unjustified; far from voicing any criticism of Braund, his own men paid tribute to his courage and gallantry. Charles Bean judged that he had shown 'every quality of a really great leader'. On 2 May 1915 Braund was ordered from the beach, where his battalion was held in reserve, to Victoria Gully. After midnight on 3-4 May he was asked to send part of his unit to reinforce the 3rd Battalion in the line. After dispatching 'C' Company he set out for brigade headquarters and instead of using the normal track took a short cut through the scrub. Slightly deaf, Braund failed to hear a challenge from a sentry, who shot him. He was buried in Beach cemetery, Gallipoli, and was survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter. He was mentioned in dispatches posthumously. Braund was the first Australian legislator to enlist for World War I and the second to die in battle.

Darryl McIntyre, 'Braund, George Frederick (1866 - 1915)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 7, Melbourne University Press, 1979, pp 392-393, http://adbonline.anu.edu.au/biogs/A070400b.htm_________________
“I hope you live a life you are proud of. If you find that you are not, l hope you have the strength to start all over again.
- F. Scott Fitzgerald

What has been expected every day for the past ten months, since the Austrian invasion of Serbia, has come to pass: There is war with Italy.

The masses in the warring countries have begun to free themselves from the official webs of lies. The German people as well have gained insight about the causes and objectives of the world war, about who is directly responsible for its outbreak. The mad delusions about the "holy aims" of the war have given way more and more, the enthusiasm for the war has dwindled, the will for a rapid peace has grown powerfully all over – even in the Army!

This was a difficult problem for the German and Austrian imperialists, who were seeking in vain for salvation. Now it seems they have found it. Italy's intervention in the war should offer them a welcome opportunity to stir up new frenzies of national hatred, to smother the will for peace, and to blur the traces of their own guilt. They are betting on the forgetfulness of the German people, betting on their forbearance which has been tested all too often.

If this plan succeeds, the results of ten months of bloody experience will be made worthless, and the international proletariat will once again be disarmed and completely discarded as an independent political factor.

This plan must be wrecked – provided that the part of the German proletariat which has remained true to international socialism remains mindful and worthy of its historical mission in this monstrous time.

The enemies of the people are counting on the forgetfulness of the masses – we counter this with the solution:

Learn everything, don't forget anything!

Don't forget anything!

We have seen how when war broke out, the masses were captured for the capitalist aims of the war with enticing melodies from the ruling classes. We have seen how the shiny bubbles of demagogy burst, how the foolish dreams of August vanished, how, instead of happiness, suffering and misery came over the people; how the tears of war widows and war orphans swelled to great currents; how the maintenance of the three-class disgrace, the unrepentant canonization of the Quadrinity – semi-absolutism, junker rule, militarism, and police despotism – became bitter truth.

Through this experience we have been warned – learn everything, don't forget anything!

Offensive are the tirades with which Italian imperialism glosses over its pillaging; offensive is that roman tragicomedy in which the now-common grimace of the Burgfrieden ("civil truce") is present. More offensive still is that in all of this we can recognize, as if reflected in a mirror, the German and Austrian methods of July and August 1914.

The Italian instigators of war deserve every denunciation. But they are nothing but copies of the German and Austrian instigators, the ones who are chiefly responsible for the outbreak of war. Birds of a feather!

Whom can the German people thank for this new affliction?
From whom can they demand explanation for the new piles of bodies which will tower up?

It is still the case: The Austrian ultimatum to Serbia from July 23, 1914 was the spark that ignited the world, even if the fire was very late in spreading to Italy.

It is still the case: This ultimatum was the signal for the redistribution of the world, and by necessity called on all capitalist pillager-states to participate in the plan.

It is still the case: This ultimatum contained in it the question of the dominance over the Balkans, Asia Minor, and all of the Mediterranean, and therefore contained all the antagonisms between Austria-Germany and Italy in one stroke.

If the German and Austrian imperialists now try to hide themselves behind the scenery of Italian pillaging and the backdrop of Italian disloyalty; when they don on the toga of moral indignation and aggrieved innocence, while in Rome they have found nothing but their equals, then they deserve the cruelest scorn.

The rule "Don't forget anything" applies to how the German people were just manipulated in the Italian question by the very honorable German patriots.

The Triple Alliance treaty wth Italy has always been a farce – you were all deceived about that!

The experts have always known that in the case of war Italy would be a certain opponent of Austria and Germany – you were led to believe it would be a certain confederate!

A good part of Germany's fate in world politics was decided in the Triple Alliance treaty, which was signed and renewed without your consultation – till the present day not one letter of this treaty has been shared with you.

The Austrian ultimatum to Serbia, with which a small clique took all of humanity by surprise, broke the treaty between Austria and Italy – you were told nothing of this.

This ultimatum was given with the express condemnation of Italy – that was kept secret from you.

On May 4 of this year Italy dissolved the alliance with Austria – until May 18 this crucial fact was withheld from the German and Austrian people, yes, in spite of the truth it was directly denied by the officials – a parallel to the intentional duping of the German people and the German Reichstag about Germany's ultimatum to Belgium from August 2, 1914.

You were given no influence on Germany and Austria's negotiations with Italy, on which Italy's intervention depended. You were treated as sheep in this vital question, while the war party, the secret diplomacy, a handful of people in Berlin and Vienna rolled the dice about the fate of Germany.

The torpedoing of the Lusitania not only consolidated the power of the English, French, and Russian war parties, invited a grave conflict with the United States, and set all neutral countries against Germany with passionate indignation; it also facilitated the disastrous work of the Italian war party right in the critical moment – the German people had to be quiet about this as well; the iron fist of the state of siege was held around their throats.

Already in March of this year peace negotiations could have been initiated – the offer was made by England – but the greed for profit of the German imperialists led this to be rejected. Promising peace endeavors were thwarted by German parties interested in colonial conquest on a grand scale and in the annexation of Belgium and French Lorraine, by capitalists of the big German shipping companies, and by the agitators of the German heavy industry.

This was also kept secret from the German people, once again you were not consulted about it.

We ask – whom can the German people thank for the continuation of the horrid war and for the intervention of Italy? Who else but the irresponsible people at home who are responsible.

Learn everything, don't forget anything!

For thinking people, Italy's imitation of Germany's actions from summer of last year cannot be a spur for new war frenzies, just an impetus to scare away the phantom hopes of a new dawn of political and social justice, just a new light for the illumination of the political responsibilities and the exposure of the public danger presented by the Austrian and German pursuers of war, just a new indictment of them.

But the rule "Learn and don't forget" applies most of all to the heroic struggle against the war that our Italian comrades have fought and still fight. Struggles in the press, in meetings, in street demonstrations, struggles with revolutionary energy and boldness, defying with heart and soul the rabid crash of nationalist waves which were whipped up by the authorities. Our most enthusiastic congratulations for their struggle. Let their spirit be our example! Provide that it should be the example of the International!

Had it been since those August days, the world would be better off. The international proletariat would be better off.

But the resolute will to fight cannot come too late!

The absurd slogan "stick it out" has hit rock bottom; it leads only deeper and deeper into the maelstrom of genocide. International proletarian class struggle against international imperialist genocide is the socialist commandment of the hour.

The main enemy of every people is in their own country!

The main enemy of the German people is in Germany: German imperialism, the German war party, German secret diplomacy. This enemy at home must be fought by the German people in a political struggle, cooperating with the proletariat of other countries whose struggle is against their own imperialists.

We think as one with the German people – we have nothing in common with the German Tirpitzes and Falkenhayns, with the German government of political oppression and social enslavement. Nothing for them, everything for the German people. Everything for the international proletariat, for the sake of the German proletariat and downtrodden humanity.

The enemies of the working class are counting on the forgetfulness of the masses – provide that that be a grave miscalculation. They are betting on the forbearance of the masses – but we raise the vehement cry:

How long should the gamblers of imperialism abuse the patience of the people? Enough and more than enough slaughter! Down with the war instigators here and abroad!

An end to genocide!

Proletarians of all countries, follow the heroic example of your Italian brothers! Ally yourselves to the international class struggle against the conspiracies of secret diplomacy, against imperialism, against war, for peace with in the socialist spirit.

Thomas Kent (Tomas Ceannt) was born in 1865. He was shot by firing squad at Cork Detension Barracks on 9 May 1916. He had previously been tried by courts martial for his part in the murder of a Royal Irish Constabulary policeman.

In the early hours of 2 May 1916, the home of the Kent family (located at Bawnard House, Castlelyons, Co. Cork) was surrounded by a party of RIC policemen led by Head Constable Rowe. Inside the house were the brothers Thomas, David, Richard and William Kent. After calling on the occupants to surrender, a pitch battle ensued during which Head Contable Rowe was killed and David Kent was severely wounded. In a later attempt to escape, Richard Kent was seriously wounded; he died from his wounds two days later.

Thomas and William Kent were both tried by courts martial on the 4 May 1916; William was acquitted but Thomas was sentenced to death. He was executed five days later on 9 May 1916.

This previously unpublished eye-witness account of the 1916 Rising was written by Joshua C. Manly, who held the post of Town Clerk to the Pembroke Urban District Council.

Manly’s account was written in the week beginning Monday 15 May 1916 to outline to his employers, the members of Pembroke Urban District Council, the progress of the Rising in the district and the measures taken by him and his staff to ameliorate matters.

Tuesday, 2nd May 1916 - Again attended at Ballsbridge and gave any assistance I could to the Military Authorities as regards identifications &c., &c.

Tuesday 2nd May 1916, 8.45 p.m. - Called up by Mr. Gray of, I understand, the Government Food Committee (Telephone Number 270, Kingstown) who stated he was connected with the Food Supply question, and asked me how the district was off in this respect, I informed him that the supplies of every thing were, I believed, very short; he then asked about the Bread Supply, I told him that Johnston, Mooney & O’Brien were baking as much as possible, but I understood flour was not very plentiful with them, and that there was probably a difficulty in getting at their reserve stock at the North Side of Dublin; he said he had seen their representative to-day at Kingstown and given him a supply of Yeast, and that they would work on all night. Mr. Gray then asked about the various local trade centres and I mentioned:-
Baggot Street,
Ballsbridge,
Donnybrook, Sandymount, Ringsend, &c.,

He mentioned that to-day he had supplied some food to Ringsend from the North side of the River Liffey, he asked about the local traders, and I mentioned those as nearly as I could who are engaged in the supply of provisions. I also drew his attention to the fact that the Post Offices being closed, Separation and such like allowances are not being paid, those due on Tuesday being now two weeks in arrear and so on. I also got my wife to speak to Mr. Gray with a view to informing him of her experiences as regards the shortage of food stuffs: he promised to speak to me again to-morrow and I said I would enquire as to when the Post Offices were likely to be re-opened, and also see some of the Traders.

2nd May [1915] - We settled our wards and things to-day, we have one wing of a lunatic asylum, room enough to accommodate about 500 patients, the first of whom have just arrived, and the night nurses are up to look after them. Last night we were billetted in various parts of the town (Bailleul) and to-night we are sleeping at the asylum, our rooms are tiny, with high barred windows. Mine is minute, but has a pleasant outlook, over the aviation ground. The news today was not cheerful and from the roar of guns a big attack has been made to-day. Let us only hope our men have done well. I was grieved to read of a Zeppelin raid over Bury, and am longing to hear if it upset Mother.

On Saturday, May 2, 1914, Delaware suffragists held what turned out to be their largest parade in Wilmington. More than 600 people marched, and thousands jammed the streets and hung out of windows to see the parade march by. Three grand marshalls--Florence Bayard Hilles representing New Castle County, Mary Slaughter representing Kent County, and Miriam Gray representing Sussex County--led the parade. They wore white dresses and the purple, yellow, and white sashes of the Congressional Union, a national woman's political organization, and each carried a yellow banner emblazoned with her county's name. Next came a band playing "Onward Christian Soldiers," followed by women, men, children, floats, and automobiles divided into 12 sections or divisions. All of the women in-the parade except the college women wore white, while the men wore business suits. College women wore their caps and gowns. The Homemakers section contained the most marchers, while African-American women marched in the Equal Suffrage Study Club.

Unfortunately, no amount of talking could change enough legislators' minds. Once again, the General Assembly turned down votes for women. Delaware's suffragists then joined those from all the other states to seek an amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The focus of the battle shifted from the states to the nation's capital.

In Washington, the leaders of the Congressional Union began to use some of the extreme tactics that British suffragists had used so successfully, like heckling, in addition to the more standard parades and meeting with Congressional delegates. Delaware's own Mabel Vernon fearlessly interrupted President Woodrow Wilson on July 4, 1916, when he spoke at a labor gathering, and demanded in a loud voice:

Mr. President, if you consider it necessary to forward the interest of all the people, why do you oppose the national suffrage amendment?

She was quickly taken out of the room by a secret service agent, and the incident received negative publicity. The Congressional Union then turned to a new technique: picketing the White House. The Congressional Union held the political party in power, the Democrats, responsible for the lack of action on the Susan B. Anthony suffrage amendment to the Constitution. They particularly sought to force the party's leader, President Wilson, into action.

May 1, 1918 -- Got up about 8 a.m., lit the fire and made a tin of porridge and then had breakfast. Laid around most of the morning. In the afternoon we fired 30 rounds on our target registering. Had our supper, did a little guard in the pit, read the paper and then went to bed. Very heavy bombardments up and down the line all night.

May 2, 1918 -- Got up about 7:30 a.m. Lit the fire. One of the lads had plugged our stovepipe up with a rag and rubber and pretty near smoked us out. We had eggs for breakfast laid around most of the day. Went to bed at 10 p.m. Heavy bombardment all night to the south of us.

On Saturday, May 2, 1914, American women from all across the country participated in a well-coordinated set of suffrage parades and meetings. A visit to Washington, DC was planned for the following Saturday, May 9, so that the various groups could present to Congress their petitions in support of a Federal suffrage amendment.

Boston was the location for one of the largest parades (and the first suffrage parade that had ever been held in Massachusetts). Various estimates put the number of marchers at somewhere between 9,000-15,000, and the number of spectators at 200,000-300,000. The crowd had been building all day--pouring into the city on trolleys and trains, carrying blankets and picnic lunches, and camping out on Back Bay doorsteps and on the Common until they took up their places all along the parade route by 4 p.m.

Chief Marshal Frances Curtis led the parade on horseback along with eight mounted aides. The mile-long parade was a sea of white dresses adorned with yellow jonquils, narcissus, paper roses, badges and ribbons. Over 800 policemen had been assigned to keep order at the parade, and streetcars were diverted from the parade route.

At 5 p.m., down Beacon Street from Massachusetts Avenue they came, well-known suffragists and college girls, elaborate floats, 13 bands, two hundred automobiles, and contingents of male supporters. The temperature was in the low sixties, and the weather sunny and breezy; the women marched with a noted seriousness of purpose.

They passed in review before Governor Walsh and Lt. Governor Barry, who stood at attention in top hats and overcoats on the State House on Beacon Hill, under the gleaming gold dome. (Former mayor "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald, John F. Kennedy's grandfather, was also present on the State House steps.) They then passed before Mayor and Mrs. Curley who awaited them in front of City Hall.

The parade marchers then looped around the business district, and returned to conclude at the Tremont Temple.

On the 2nd of May 1915 the 4th Australian Bgde, NZ'ers & British Marines launched an attack whose objective was Baby 700.
The 13th & 16th Battalions clung to their gains for a while but were gradually forced back by the Turkish fire.
Lt Kieran Leopold Anderson of the 16th Battalion was one of the many Fremantle men to die that day

“Enver Paşa, the deputy commander-in-chief, sent the following communiqué to Talat Paşa, the Minister of Interior on 17 C. 1333 (2 May 1915): "In order to prevent this and also to achieve the goal mentioned above, it is necessary to send these Armenians and their families across the Russian borders, or to disperse these Armenians and their families to various locations within Anatolia. I request that the most appropriate of these two be chosen and implemented.”

Op 27 mei 1915 vroeg Talat Paşa om een relocatiewet met de volgende tekst:
“The following day he submitted note to the office of the Grand Vizier, or 13 B. 1333 (27 May 1915), requesting "a provisory law regarding the measures to be adopted by the military authorities for those who oppose the acts of the government during wartime.”

The following circumstances of his death have been compiled from letters received by Lieut Owen Carsley Frederic Hague's father, Frederic Hague from officers in the area at the time. Early on Sunday morning, May 2, 1915 Lieutenants' Hague and Helmer left their position to check on a Canadian Battery who had positioned themselves on the bank of the Yser Canal near St. Julien close to the France-Belgium border. They had only gone a few yards when a six inch, high explosive canon shell burst. Lieut. Helmer was killed instantly. Lieut. Helmer was a close friend of Capt. John McCrae and was the inspiration for "In Flanders Fields".

The latest news about the Sinn Féin rising is good. On Sunday General Maxwell informed a group of Press representatives that the back of the rising was broken, but not yet over. We know that, although most of the leaders in Dublin had surrendered unconditionally after a parley in which they attempted to gain terms, there was considerable street fighting on Sunday, and that during yesterday parties of snipers were still being hunted down in several parts of the centre of the city. Last evening, however, an official communique was sent out stating that all the Dublin rebels had surrendered, and that the city was now quite safe. One thousand prisoners had been taken up to that time, 489 of whom had been sent to England. The Enniscorthy rebels surrendered unconditionally yesterday. A very lenient course has been taken with the rebels in the provinces. Informed of the surrender of the leaders in Dublin, they were allowed to send small parties under military escort to the capital to confirm these reports, and in return to their various fellow dupes with the news.

An insurgent "lieutenant" with ten men came in from Meath on Sunday on this mission, and were allowed to interview Pearse, the Commander in Chief. Doubtless the same course has been taken with the Enniscorthy rebels. The only other centres of serious disturbance from which there is at present no similar news are Galway and Wexford and it may be assumed that in both these areas the mass of the rebels will be only too glad to make capitulation by laying down their arms when they learn of the collapse in Dublin. We said a week ago, with the scant knowledge we then had, that the connection between this disloyal movement and Germany was now complete; that the manner of Sir Roger Casement’s capture proved that German gold and German influence had all along been at the back of the sedition mongers in this country. The way in which the German Press dealt with Casement’s capture and the rising in Dublin was sufficient to show that we were right in this view. They could not hide their disappointment and chagrin. Apparently great things were expected to flow from the rebellion – great things politically. In the United States especially. And the admission was sorrowfully made that little good could now be expected to come of it. News from New York gives quite a sensational turn to the connection between the Germans and the rebels.

Little doubt now exists that the Sinn Féiners were partly financed by hyphenated Americans of Irish and German descent and it is believed that the Von Igel papers if published will disclose proof of a remarkable series of plots and conspiracies, not only against Ireland, but against all our colonial possessions. The papers, it will be remembered were discovered by Government detectives when the New York office of Captain Von Papen, the disgraced German Military Attache was raided and Von Igel,Von Papen’s secretary was arrested. The raid on Von Papen’s office was one of the sequels to the disclosures which the German spy, Von Der Goltz made when he was arrested in England. The German Ambassador at Washington at first made strong demands that Von Igel’s papers were official; that they were, therefore, precluded from seizure, and must be handed over to him without examination. Now he has changed front, by admitting that they are not official, to escape from the difficulty of having to identify them as such, and thus implicating the German Embassy in the conspiracies against the United States which they disclose. The ground he now takes up is that the papers are personal belongings of an Embassy Attache and as such are immune from seizure. The Department of Justice, it is said, will hold that documents relating to plots against the security of the State are not immune from seizure and the security of the State is certainly involved in plots to foment rebellion in Ireland.

Now, are we to suppose that our own Government was ignorant of the close connection thus revealed between the enemy and the Sinn Féin propaganda in Ireland? That is preposterous. It is precluded by the fact that it was upon the confessions of Von Der Goltz that Von Igel was arrested at Von Papon’s private office in New York and the incriminating papers seized. John Devoy the editor of the "Gaelic American" the organ of the American Sinn Féiners, is threatening to accuse the President of the responsibility for the sinking of Sir Roger Casement’s ammunition ship, on account of the warnings given by a member of the Administration to the British Government. He charges that this is the "most disgraceful and dishonourable act ever committed by an American President – a deliberate violation of neutrality". The obtuseness of the Irish rebel and German Americans to the violation of American neutrality by themselves and by German Embassy officials is marvellous. Devoy’s furious tirade simply proves the close connection between the German official and pro-German plotters in America and the Sinn Féiners in Ireland. The "Times" correspondent aptly remarks that Americans are becoming accustomed to the German trick of accusing their enemies of their own crimes. What is to be said of the Irish Administration’s policy of doing nothing while all this ramification of plotting from Berlin to New York and from New York to Dublin was going on? Now that the back of the rebellion has been broken, and the Irish metropolis is again a quite safe place for peaceable loyal subjects of the King, the more that is disclosed of the genesis of the rising the more flagrant becomes the folly and ineptitude of the Irish Administration in allowing the plot to come to a head.

The following is the substance of what I said when asked today by the President of the Court Martial at Richmond Barracks whether I had anything to say in defence:

I desire in the first place to repeat what I have already said in letters to General Sir John Maxwell and to Brigadier General Lowe. My object in agreeing to an unconditional surrender was to prevent the further slaughter of the civil population of Dublin and to save the lives of our gallant followers who, having made for six days a stand unparalleled in military history, were now surrounded and (in the case of those under the immediate command of Headquarters) without food. I fully understand now, as then, that my own life is forfeit to British law, and I shall die very cheerfully if I think that the British Government, as it has already shown itself strong, will now show itself magnanimous enough to accept my single life to forfeiture and give a general amnesty to the brave men and boys who have fought at my bidding.

In the second place I wish it to be understood that any admissions I make here are to be taken as involving myself alone. They do not involve and must not be used against anyone who acted with me, not even those who may have set their names to documents with me. (The Court assented to this,)

I admit that I was Commandant General Commanding in Chief the forces of the Irish Republic which have been acting against you for the past week, and that I was President of their Provisional Government. I stand over all my acts and words done or spoken in those capacities. When I was a child of ten I went down on my bare knees by my bedside one night and promised God that I should devote my life to an effort to free my country. I have kept that promise. As a boy and as a man I have worked for Irish freedom, first among all earthly things, I have helped to organise, to arm, to train, and to discipline my fellow-countrymen to the sole end that, when the time came, they might fight for Irish freedom. The time, as it seemed to me, did come, and we went into the fight. I am glad we did. We seem to have lost. We have not lost, To refuse to fight would have been to lose; to fight is to win. We have kept faith with the past, and handed on a tradition to the future.

I repudiate the assertion of the prosecutor that I sought to aid and abet England's enemy. Germany is no more to me than England is. I asked and accepted German aid in the shape of arms and an expeditionary force. We neither asked for nor accepted Germany [sic] gold, nor had any traffic with Germany but what I state. My aim was to win Irish freedom: we struck the first blow ourselves but should have been glad of an ally's aid.

I assume that I am speaking to Englishmen, who value their freedom and who profess to be fighting for the freedom of Belgium and Serbia. Believe that we, too, love freedom and desire it. To us it is more desirable than anything in the world. If you strike us down now, we shall rise again and renew the fight. You cannot conquer Ireland. You cannot extinguish the Irish passion for freedom. If our deed has not been sufficient to win freedom, then our children will win it by a better deed.

http://inventaris.vioe.be/woi/relict/1010_________________
“I hope you live a life you are proud of. If you find that you are not, l hope you have the strength to start all over again.
- F. Scott Fitzgerald

... Do you remember how, in April last year, I called you up on the telephone at ten in the morning to come at once to the Botanical Gardens and listen to the nightingale which was giving a regular concert there? We hid ourselves in a thick shrubbery, and sat on the stones beside a trickling streamlet. When the nightingale had ceased singing, there suddenly came a plaintive, monotonous cry that sounded something like “Gligligligligliglick!” I said I thought it must be some kind of marsh bird, and Karl agreed; but we never learned exactly what bird it was. Just fancy, I heard the same call suddenly here from somewhere close at hand a few days ago in the early morning, and I burned with impatience to find out what the bird was. I could not rest until I had done so. It is not a marsh bird after all.

It is a wryneck, a grey bird, larger than a sparrow. It gets its name because of the way in which, when danger threatens, it tries to intimidate its enemies by quaint gestures and writhings of the neck. It lives only on ants, collecting them with its sticky tongue, just like an ant-eater. The Spaniards call it hormiguero, – the ant-bird. Mörike[10] has written some amusing verses on the wryneck, and Hugo Wolf[11] has set them to music. Now that I’ve found out what bird it is that gave the plaintive cry, I am so pleased as if some one had given me a present. You might write to Karl about it, he will like to know.

You ask what I am reading. Natural science for the most part; I am studying the distribution of plants and animals.

Yesterday I was reading about the reasons for the disappearance of song birds in Germany. The spread of scientific forestry, horticulture, and agriculture, have cut them off from their nesting places and their food supply. More and more, with modern methods, we are doing away with hollow trees, waste lands, brushwood, fallen leaves. I felt sore at heart. I was not thinking so much about the loss of pleasure for human beings, but I was so much distressed at the idea of the stealthy and inexorable destruction of these defenceless little creatures, that the tears came into my eyes. I was reminded of a book I read in Zurich, in which Professor Sieber describes the dying-out of the Redskins in North America. Just like the birds, they have been gradually driven from their hunting grounds by civilised men.

I suppose I must be out of sorts to feel everything so deeply. Sometimes, however, it seems to me that I am not really a human being at all but like a bird or a beast in human form. I feel so much more at home even in a scrap of garden like the one here, and still more in the meadows when the grass is humming with bees than – at one of our party congresses. I can say that to you, for you will not promptly suspect me of treason to socialism! You know that I really hope to die at my post, in a street fight or in prison.

But my innermost personality belongs more to my tomtits than to the comrades. This is not because, like so many spiritually bankrupt politicians, I seek refuge and find repose in nature. Far from it, in nature at every turn I see so much cruelty that I suffer greatly.

Take the following episode, which I shall never forget. Last spring I was returning from a country walk when, in the quiet, empty road, I noticed a small dark patch on the ground. Leaning forward I witnessed a voiceless tragedy. A large beetle was lying on its back and waving its legs helplessly, while a crowd of little ants were swarming round it and eating it alive! I was horror stricken, so I took my pocket handkerchief and began to flick the little brutes away. They were so hold and stubborn that it took me some time, and when at length I had freed the poor wretch of a beetle and had carried it to a safe distance on the grass, two of its legs had already been gnawed off ... I fled from the scene feeling that in the end I had conferred a very doubtful boon.

The evening twilight lasts so long now. I love this hour of the gloaming. In the South End I had plenty of blackbirds, but here there are none to be seen or heard. I was feeding a pair all through the winter, but they have vanished.

In the South End I used to stroll through the streets at this hour. It always fascinates me when, during the last violet gleam of daylight, the ruddy gas lamps suddenly flash out, still looking so strange in the half light as if they were almost ashamed of themselves.Then one sees indistinctly a figure moving swiftly through the street, perhaps a servant maid hastening to fetch something from the baker or the grocer before the shops close. The bootmaker’s children, who are friends of mine, used to go on playing in the streets after dark, until a loud call summoned them in. And there was always a belated blackbird which could not settle down, but like a naughty child would go on wailing, or would wake with a start and fly noisily from tree to tree.

For my part, I would continue standing in the middle of the street numbering the stars as they came out, reluctant to go home, unwilling to leave the mild air, and the twilight in which day and night were so gently caressing one another.

Sonyusha, I will write again soon. Make your mind easy, everything will turn out all right, for Karl too. Good-bye till the next letter.

With love
Your Rosa

[10] German poet, born 1804, died 1875.
[11] Austrian composer, born 1860, died 1903. Celebrated as a writer of songs.

Our Boys "Over There" Enjoy Toasted Cigarettes
Through the patriotism of the citizens of this country thousands of smoke kits are being distributed to American soldiers in France. Authorities agree that men in the trenches need cigarettes almost as much as food and munitions.
Doctors, nurses, and commanding officers all join in the demand which has awakened in this country a great movement to keep our boys supplied with smokes.
Millions of the famous LUCKY STRIKE Cigarettes are "going over" all the time. There's something about the idea of teh toasted cigarette that appeals to the men who spend their time in cold wet trenches and billets.
Then, too, the real Kentucky Burley tobacco of the LUCKY STRIKE cigarette gives them the solid satisfaction of a pipe, with a lot less trouble. Adv.